1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cruiser type boat arranged to run by driving an outboard motor disposed on a stern of the boat.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, so-called cruiser type boat shaving a rather large size and various kinds of facilities necessary for ocean sailing are used for leisure. In such boats, in general, an apparatus such as an engine is disposed in a stern of a boat body, while a drive unit is disposed on the outside of the boat body thereby rotating a propeller, or an apparatus such as an engine is disposed in a center portion of the boat body and a propeller extending outward from the boat body is rotated by a driving force provided by the engine via a propeller shaft. The former configuration is called an inboard-outboard motor configuration, while the latter configuration is called an inboard motor configuration. In such conventional cruiser type boats, locating the driving apparatus in the inside of the boat body results in a reduction in space in the boat body, and thus it is difficult to find sufficient space for installing various kinds of devices or for relaxing.
In view of the above, a boat has been developed which is configured to be driven by an outboard motor without locating a driving engine in the inside of the boat body (for example, see JP-A-Hei 9-207888). In this boat, an outboard motor installation portion is provided on the transom on the stern of the boat, and the outboard motor is installed on this outboard motor installation portion. Furthermore, an upper portion, a front portion, and both side portions of the outboard motor are covered with an outboard motor cover. Stern steps with a space that allows a crew to sit therein are provided at both sides of the outboard motor. This configuration allows noise from the outboard motor to be blocked and also allows the upper surface of the outboard motor cover to be used as a table.
However, in the conventional boat described above, there is no passageway for a connection between the stern steps provided at either side of the outboard motor. Therefore, for example, when a crew gets aboard the boat from one of the stern steps and further moves to the other stern step, the crew has to first move to one side of the stern deck from the one stern step, then move to the other side of the stern deck, and finally move to the other stern step from the stern deck. In such a movement, if the boat is of a cruiser type with a rather large size in which the stern deck is located higher than the stern steps, then a further troublesome movement is necessary to get from one of the stern steps to the other. Furthermore, in the conventional boat described above, although an outboard motor is used, the height of the stern deck from the bottom of the boat is not very large, and thus it is difficult to provide an effectively usable space in a bottom region in the body of the boat.